Employees are posing a security risk to large companies by forwarding their sensitive company email to Web-based personal email accounts offered by the likes of Google and Yahoo. Management, tipped off by the often-paranoid techie gatekeepers of their network, is rightly concerned that corporate secrets could slip through the cracks. Imagine a Google competitor or partner forwarding sensitive company information to their Gmail account? This is a battle of best intentions: Employees do this for the sake of productivity, because in many cases, they can't access their corporate intranet once they leave the office. In others, corporate …

Apple Chief Steve Jobs may have deflected some of the controversy surrounding the options backdating scandal with the dramatic unveiling of the iPhone at Macworld earlier this week, but the newspaper, in a detailed analysis of the scandal, concludes that Jobs should technically be out of job for his part in a scandal that spread through the computer maker over the last 20 years. SEC filings by the Apple chief saw $75 million worth of restricted shares turn into $650 million between 2003 and March of last year. Apple argues that Jobs didn't personally benefit from the restricted …

After making a big splash at its own Macworld conference in San Francisco (possibly overshadowing the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) with the new iPhone, which resulted in a big day for Apple on Wall Street, the iPod maker was dealt a harsh dose of reality this morning. Cisco Systems, which owns the rights to the "iPhone" name, said it would sue Apple for trademark infringement. Cisco actually acquired the right to use the name in 2000, a year before the iPod went to market. "Cisco entered into negotiations with Apple in good faith after Apple repeatedly asked …

Hollywood is having an easy time reaching one of its core consumer markets with Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace. There are some 5 million members of Xbox Live, the majority are Xbox 360 owners. This means movie studios creating blockbusters like "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Mission: Impossible III" can produce HD-quality trailers that potentially reach millions of 16-34 year olds. In addition, Xbox Live users have access to more than 1,000 hours of entertainment programming, including TV shows, music videos and movies that can be purchased through the store. So far, Xbox Live users have downloaded more than …

2007 will be the year of localization for the media business. What exactly does that mean? The closer integration of local products and services into our everyday media consumption. For instance, how useful would it be if your default home page brought daily news and weather and interfaced with your social-networking profile, individual electronic payment services, daily schedule, budgeting, shopping suggestions, email list? These interactive connections between consumer online destinations and activities, and retailers and commerce, could prove a potent alternative to Google. Indeed, but such integration also requires the kind of algorithm-based technology that only …

Despite Apple's announcement today that it's sold 2 billion songs on iTunes, Digital Rights Management is on the decline. Consumers, in fact, are so frustrated with the restrictive software they've sued companies like Apple and Universal Music Group from using DRM on their music, citing antitrust law. Regardless of how those lawsuits turn out, the writing is on the wall. CD sales continue to drop, down 15% since 2000, but current digital sales aren't picking up that slack. Apple, with its 2 billion songs sold, accounts for most of digital sales--20 times more than eMusic, the industry's No. …

The 110th Congress has wasted no time introducing the next network neutrality act. Senators Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) introduced the Freedom Preservation Act of 2007, less than two weeks after AT&T, the country's largest telecom company, was forced by the Federal Communications Commission to commit to network neutrality in its merger with BellSouth. The introduction of the bill drew immediate praise from groups that lobbied for network neutrality legislation last year. Now that the new AT&T (formerly SBC and BellSouth-two of the biggest lobbying arms against net neutrality last year) has dropped out of …

With hundreds of millions of people watching Google's YouTube and other online video sites, will today's big-budget Hollywood production become a thing of the past? Big-budget productions will become "a crapshoot" at best, that could either become a hit or a big waste of money. The result is that big media companies will gamble less on blockbusters and distribute more amateur and low-budget content, while taking on a long-tail-oriented revenue stream. 2007 prediction: video will drive online advertising. Unfortunately, this means the quality of content will continue to decline as fragmented media consumption forces media companies into lower …

Throughout this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Lydia Loizides will be contributing live posts to her Media Technology Futuresblog. Check back throughout the day for fresh updates.

This morning, CBS Chief Les Moonves is giving a keynote address at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, during which he may announce new partnerships with Sling Media, maker of the popular Sling Box, and Linden Las, the developer of Second Life. That's the rumor anyway, and it would make sense, too, given that CBS, like all other traditional media powers, is serious about embracing new media technologies. Tonight, Moonves will be joined by three people representing new media companies and four others from CBS' own business, strongly suggesting that a new partnership deal may be announced. …